Mending Broken Hearts
by nurserachie2012
Summary: A medical emergency threatens the life of a member of the team. Mending broken hearts can work both ways. Rating for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Mending Broken Hearts.

The darkness in the bullpen felt quite oppressive when everyone had gone home and there was no rush of activity, no agents coming in and out, no phones ringing, and no movement at all in fact. Some of the dark and empty desks were relatively tidy with the odd small pieces of paper with notes from various things sitting there; computers now off after the hard day's work. Files, folders, sticky notes and pens littered other desks, the owners obviously not as tidy as others in the large office space. Swivel chairs missing their owners, relegated to simply sitting on their wheels, lamenting the lack of bottom on their seats.

However, venturing to look further into the room towards the steps and the raised gangway at the back, there was a slim slice of light coming out from underneath the closed door of the office of one Mr David Rossi. Profiler, author, brash Italian with a love of food, wine and cigars. At that moment said man was tapping away on his laptop, the first 2 chapters of his new book due in 2 days, his publisher and his editor breathing down his neck and work taking up all his time. It seemed to him that the only way he got work done was to stay behind in the dark BAU unit rooms into the early hours. Sighing deeply, Dave rubbed a hand down his face and looked towards the clock on his office wall and noted the time. 11:30pm, and he still had way too far to go on these chapters to give up and go home now. Leaning back in his chair, his right hand reached for the short glass of the beautifully coloured and expensive scotch that sat next to his laptop and brought it to his lips.

Just as the cool glass touched his lips he was seized by an intense pain in his chest that he had never experienced before and it instantly took his breath away. He couldn't stop his right hand from releasing the glass from his hand as he clutched his chest, overcome by the crushing sensation he felt, almost like someone was sat on his chest, instantly restricting his breathing and making him feel dizzy and disorientated. The glass and the liquid inside it reached the floor but the noise of the glass breaking was masked by Dave's gasp of breath. He leant forward in his chair and quickly tried to grip the edge of his Italian wooden desk with his left hand in an attempt to steady himself in his chair but he found that his left arm and hand didn't appear to be listening to his brain and it too began to hurt.

Not usually one to become easily panicked, Dave couldn't stop it overtaking him at that moment, remembering that he was in a dark office, late at night and no one knew he was there. His breathing was becoming even more difficult now as panic had set in and he was beginning to feel incredibly short of breath. However, a moment of clarity came when he remembered that just 10 minutes ago he had used his desk phone and called JJ in her office to order her home. Hoping and praying that JJ had done what she usually does and ignored his request, he pulled his chair towards the edge of his desk. Reaching for his phone with his now painful left arm, he pulled the receiver off the cradle and pressed the number 1 which was JJ's speed dial number, and then the speaker phone button knowing he would not be able to hold the phone to his ear. Leaning heavily on his desk now, his right hand still clutching his painful chest he listened with bated breath for JJ's voice to come of the line, his world now becoming fuzzy as lack of oxygen and pain clouded his mind.

He was momentarily elated to hear JJ's voice over the phone and knew she'd come to help him. "I know Dave, I know. I should be at home; I'm going soon I promise. I just wanted to get the reports done and going home to an empty house isn't great for me at the minute." By the time JJ had stopped talking, Dave had needed to rest his head on his desk as his world was quickly disappearing into fuzz, hazy at best, and his vision wouldn't even allow him to see the phone on his desk anymore. Managing only a groan as the pain and breathlessness began to become too much, he heard the concerned response from JJ. "Dave was that you are you ok? Dave, answer me please."

It was at that moment that Dave lost his fight to stay conscious. He felt the world disappear, a ringing in his ears and sudden nausea came over him and his body lost its ability to keep itself upright and sat in the chair. The fight was lost as he slipped from his chair to the right and into the floor; the thud of his body hitting the carpet was the only noise JJ heard on the other end of the phone. The dial tone was heard then and the speaker phone shut itself off as JJ slammed the receiver back on to the cradle.

...

JJ couldn't stop the racing of her heart as she heard the thud of what she knew must have been Dave's body hitting the carpeted floor of his office. An office that now seemed miles away as she shot out of her own black swivel chair and hurried around her desk to her own office door. She was thanking whatever God was listening that she hadn't listened to Dave and gone home. She couldn't imagine what could have happened to him to cause him to fall to the floor. Thankful she wore flat shoes that day as her heels would have been dangerous to run in, she ran from her office down the corridor and towards the glass doors of the BAU.

Pushing the doors open quickly, she hurried through the silent bullpen towards his office and the light coming out from under the door. Arriving at the door she immediately pulled it open and looked about the room. She frowned at not immediately seeing Dave anywhere, but then looking towards the floor near his desk she caught sight of what she recognised as a hand and rushed towards it. Rounding the side of the desk she saw Dave lying on his right side on the floor and JJ immediately knelt down next the prone body of her dear friend, shaking him and shouting his name hoping he would respond. When no sound came from Dave, JJ held a shaking hand to his throat, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as she prayed to feel something under her fingers.

JJ couldn't help the smile through her tears as she felt a pulse underneath her shaking fingers. Sighing in relief she picked up Dave's mobile phone from its place on the floor where it had fallen out of his pocket and dialled 911. Upon hearing the reply on the other end of the phone JJ's shaky voice jumped into action and she requested an ambulance from the calm lady on the other end of the line. Making another call to the reception of the building and informing them of what was happening and that there would be an ambulance crew coming to the building and could they please show them up to the BAU, JJ made herself more comfortable on the floor next to Dave's prone body.

Waiting for the ambulance seemed to take an age but in reality she had probably only been waiting 2 -3 minutes. During her wait, JJ started to stroke Dave's face and hair, her tears beginning to gather in her eyes again. She began talking to him softly in an attempt to gently wake him up, although it was also comforting her too. A groan from the body she was sitting next to made her jump and spin around on her knees quickly. "Dave! Dave its JJ can you hear me? Come on Dave answer me love please." The endearment slipping out without her realising as her excitement took over. JJ saw Dave's hand go straight to his chest in a clenching motion again as he became aware of the pain he was feeling when he returned to consciousness. Despite his obvious pain, JJ was relieved to see him awaken.

...

Returning to the land of awareness, Dave's immediate response was to groan as the pain in his chest and left arm became clear to him again. He was also developing a headache but he figured that was due to his head hitting the floor as he fell from his chair. He also became aware of another body on the floor with him, and someone speaking to him but through the haze the words were intelligible. His right hand returned to his chest again and it seemed his left one was not going to be any use to him. This awareness was improving and he could smell perfume in the air, a scent her knew well and his was comforted to know that JJ had indeed come to his rescue and was with him.

Opening his dark eyes, Dave saw the definite shape of JJ sitting on the floor next to him and he couldn't help the tears that started to leak out of his eyes. Ignoring the pain in his chest he reached out his right hand and held on to JJ's own hand and bought it back to his chest, hugging it to him as his own lifeline. JJ lay on the floor next to him and looked into his eyes. "Hey you, you'll do anything to get attention won't you. Don't you think this is a bit far, you scared the hell out of me." JJ used her other hand to wipe the tears away from Dave's eyes with her fingers and stroked down his face lightly.

Smiling slightly through a grimace, Dave took a deep breath and said, "Thanks for coming JJ." He was about to say something else but that that point they both heard rushed voices and the sounds of feet running towards the office they both lay in. Two EMT's came rushing into the room pushing a stretcher with them, followed by the buildings night receptionist who stood well back from the medics as they began unpacking their equipment. JJ started to move out of the way but Dave wouldn't let her hand go, but as she turned round to tell him to let her hand go, the fear she saw in the dark watery eyes stopped the words before they left her mouth. Instead she simply moved round to his head, picked it up with her left hand and laid it in her lap.

"Right Sir, I'm Alex," said one of the EMT's as he shuffled towards them on his knees. "I need to know what happened and where your problem is so that we can assess and treat you properly." Dave again took a deep breath and said, "Pain in my chest where my hand is, feels like someone is sitting on my chest. Left arm hurts too." Saying those two sentences seemed to have taken the wind out of him and he began to struggle for breath again, grimacing as a fresh wave of pain hit him. Alex the EMT seemed to jump into action at Dave's words and pulled some equipment towards him.

JJ watched a heavy feeling beginning to settle in her stomach as the EMT behind Alex began pulling plastic and glass vials out of a drug bag, along with needles, syringes and other items. Alex now had a small oxygen cylinder in his hands that he was attaching clear tubing to and a mask which he then put over Dave's nose and mouth. JJ could hear the hiss of the oxygen as the dial on the cylinder was turned to the on position and then further round to increase the flow. "Right its David isn't it, ok listen David I think you're having a heart attack, but to be sure I need to attach a few stickers to your chest and then attach wires from this machine to them to check if I'm right ok. I need you to turn onto your back for me so that the machine can read the results properly."

JJ helped Dave turn on to his back so his head was now in the middle of her lap and he was facing towards her face, looking directly into her eyes. She could see that the fear was definitely still there, and it seemed to have increased slightly after the EMT had said the words 'heart attack'. JJ was struggling herself seeing this brash and headstrong man suddenly so vulnerable and scared, and she couldn't help leaning down and pressing her lips to his forehead and telling him it would be ok. More tears leaked out of the side of Dave's eyes and rolled into his dark hair, but unfortunately the moment was lost when the EMT said he'd need to take Dave's shirt off to attach the leads to his chest. JJ moved her own and Dave's hand from the centre of his chest and laid to to the side of his head to give Alex access to the shirt buttons.

Alex made quick work of the black buttons of the Italian purple dress shirt Dave wore and pushed the two sides aside. JJ watched as Alex placed 8 stickers on to Dave's chest, one on each wrist and then one on each calf and then turned on the machine next him which immediately sprang to life with a bright heart rhythm trace on the dark screen. As the EMT's checked the rhythm, JJ leant over Dave's face and said, "Wow, I shall have to take a picture, David Rossi has a heart. I knew you had one in there somewhere." Dave smiled and squeezed her hand tightly and the bright trace line went across the small screen. Alex pressed a button on the front of the machine and a strip of pink and white paper came out of the front which the heart tracing on it.

Alex checked the paper and nodded turning to JJ and Dave, "It looks like I was right David, this is a heart attack. What I need to do is to get a needle in to your arm just in case I need to give you any medication. I'm also going to give you a medication now that should ease some of your discomfort ok. It is a little spray bottle called GTN. It needs to be sprayed under your tongue so if you could open your mouth and lift your tongue up I can give it to you." Dave did as he was asked and the EMT sprayed twice under his tongue and then told him to close his mouth and to let them know if it helped the pain. The other EMT meanwhile had rolled up Dave's shirt sleeve and was tying a tourniquet around Dave's left bicep, feeling the inside of his elbow.

Picking up what looked like a needle attached to a plastic holder he said, "David, I'm Jesse and I'm going to put that needle that Alex mentioned into your left arm, I need you to keep still for me while I do it ok." At Dave's nod, the EMT inserted the needle into Rossi's arm and placed a dressing over it to secure it in place. Dave mumbled something into the mask that was over his nose and mouth so J bent forwards and asked him to repeat it. JJ straightened her back and said, "He says the spray has helped his pain a bit," and Alex nodded at this. JJ at that point noticed that all through the activity, Alex had been keeping notes about what was going on upon a large sheet of paper.

He looked at JJ and said, "Right, I'm going to need some details from you about David's usually condition and such. I assume you're coming to the hospital with us as I don't think he's going to let you go and he does need someone who knows him to come." JJ nodded and then Alex addressed Dave. "David we need to get you on to our stretcher ok, so we'll lower it to the floor. Do you think if we all helped, you'd be able to get into it?" At an affirmative nod from Rossi, Jesse the other EMT brought the trolley slower to them and lowered it as low as it would go. With the assistance of the two EMT's and JJ Dave was on it in 10 seconds. The trolley was raised again as Dave was strapped in and the group went though the bullpen towards the elevator doors. JJ collected Dave's phone and wallet on the way out of his office and then ran towards her office and collected her own purse and phone before following the group into the elevator and down the levels to the ground floor and the waiting ambulance.


	2. Chapter 2

Author Note: I would like to point out that while I work in cardiology, I am British and therefore please don't flame me for any differences in treatment there may be. Also, given that this is a work of fiction, some places will be fictional.

Mending Broken Hearts – Chapter 2

Letting go of Dave's hand as he was wheeled into the ER and promptly hidden by a sea of doctors and nurses was one of the hardest things JJ had ever had to do. Princely because Dave had refused to let her go until she promised to stay with him, but also because she couldn't bear to see the now thinly veiled panic on Dave's face as the situation became more of a reality. During the ambulance ride to the hospital he hadn't let his grip on her hand go, so much so that the EMT's had to work round JJ to do what they needed to do. As she watched the hospital staff do their thing, JJ realised that the rest of their team, their family were at home and in their beds, totally unaware of what had happened at the office to one of their much loved family members. Loved more by some members of the team than others.

JJ's feelings for Rossi had been confused since that first day she had met him in Hotch's office 5 years ago. She had harboured what she thought was a silly crush on the man since seeing him giving lectures during her training. In fact she knew the majority of the young female agents had at some point had an interest in the man. Usually the interest died, as it had with most of the female agents she knew in the Bureau. However, JJ's had continued to exploded from crush into something more as soon as she had laid eyes on him in the office that day. Those Levi's had done so much for him and his rear; his dark eyes were at best interesting and at worst intoxicating. His voice was so deep and dark, authoritative and commanding. JJ had fallen so hard, but she had Will, and she'd thought he was everything she wanted in a man. Until it all went wrong, Will had left her and Henry in the lurch so to speak and Rossi in his knight in shining armour way had saved her and her son.

As JJ watched, the EMT's were informing the medical staff about Dave's condition, the medications they had given him in the ambulance and the tests they had performed before arriving. Deciding that Dave was being distracted by the hospital staff enough to not notice her absence for a minute or two, she quietly slipped out of the busy ER and into the reception area and pulled out her cell phone. She noticed the time on the digital clock above the reception area at that point, 00:05 and she became loath to wake the other team members from their slumber, but deciding that they would all more than likely want to know than find out in the morning, she decided to do the best thing for Rossi and the team and ring Hotch. Quickly going through the menus to her contacts list she found the name she was after and taking a deep breath to steady her nerves and her voice she pressed the green call button and waited for the reply.

The sleepy but very even male voice of Aaron Hotchner answered her call and JJ was instantly relieved, "Hotch its JJ, listen I haven't got much time to explain but I'm at the Cedars Medical Centre with Dave, they think he's having a heart attack." Hotch immediately informed JJ that he would call the other members of their team and that they would be with her and Dave shortly. Thanking Hotch and then hanging up the phone and heaving a sigh of relief, JJ put the phone back into her bag and was about to turn back towards the ER doors when they opened towards her. A scrub clad nurse appeared from behind the door and looked at her with a look akin to despair.

JJ's heart and stomach began to do acrobatics, but before her mind could produce horrible visions of Dave flat on his back and doctors desperately performing CPR and attempting to revive him the nurse spoke. "Are you JJ ma'am, if you are we really need you back here. The man will not let us do anything without you there". Smiling at the nurse's despair, JJ followed her back through the doors to a cacophony of noise. The majority of said noise was in the form of shouting and that was coming from Dave himself who, despite still holding his chest was making his protests at whatever the staff were attempting to do known very loudly. The other voices in the mix were that of the medical team, all of whom were attempting to cajole and coerce Rossi into accepting their treatment. JJ sniggered as she approached the irate Italian who at that moment was once again shouting at the poor staff who were simply trying to do what was already a difficult job.

"No, are you lot deaf? You are not hearing me. I refuse any and all treatment until you get JJ, the woman I came in with and her shapely ass in this room now. I need JJ and I need her now!" Arching an eyebrow at hearing that particular turn of phrase come out of his mouth, JJ said, "Thank you for that appreciative assessment of that particular asset of mine Rossi and as nice as it is that you noticed, I am here now so these lovely people can do their job." Rossi immediately reached out for her hand and held it in a vice like grip, "You promised you wouldn't leave me. I can't deal with this on my own. I can deal with things happening to other people but not me. Where did you go?" JJ was momentarily shocked again by the fear and panic she could see in his eyes, and was instantly curious as to where the fear came from. The moment was broken by 2 nurses who approached with a large syringe connected to an IV line with clear fluid inside and a label on the front. They put the syringe into a machine and keyed in some information then attached the end of the IV line to the needle that Alex the EMT had put into his arm earlier. "Mr Rossi, this is GTN, the same drug you had before you arrived as a spray in your mouth. Hopefully this should control the pain you're feeling in your chest to a level comfortable enough to control the pain. If after 20 minutes the pain is still unmanageable, please let us know and we can increase the amount that is being delivered into your system through the needle ok?" At Rossi's nod, they both disappeared and JJ turned her attention back to Rossi's previous statement.

Frowning JJ bent down to Dave's eye level and whispered, "Hey, hey Rossi it's ok I'm here now ok, I just popped out to call Hotch to let him know we were here. Hotch and the team will be coming soon. Dave listen everything will be ok, why are you so panicked about this? You can talk down psychotic serial killers and interrogate the scum of human life. Why is this too much to handle?" She didn't know if he'd answer her or not but the question needed to be asked. Dave looked around the room at the hospital staff, none of whom at that point were listening to their small conversation, so he sighed deeply and turned slightly on his side towards her. "Well the thing is, and don't get all huffy with me for not saying anything to anyone before now, but 3 years ago my Papa died of a heart attack in this hospital."

...

After Dave's admission, JJ had suddenly understood his fear. He had seen his Dad die of the very thing that was happening to him at that moment, and he simply did not want to be alone. She ignored the disappointment that momentarily took over her as she realised he would be this attached to any other member of the team, not just her. "Oh Dave, why didn't you tell anyone love? We're your family, or at least I thought we were. You know you can trust us to help you whenever and whatever you need. Hotch would have understood, we all would." JJ couldn't resist the endearment as she put a hand on Rossi's dark, thick hair, stroking his temple with her thumb gently. "You stupid man, this is one of your 'I don't share my problems with other people who have their own issues' things isn't it. You're been with us for 5 years now; I thought we'd forced you out of that little annoying habit."

Smiling slightly, Rossi rolled onto his back again and looked at the ceiling. "I didn't even get to hospital in time to say goodbye to him, he was gone by the time I or any other member of the family got here. He died alone. I can never forgive myself for that, but I can't die like that. Alone, surrounded by people I don't know and who don't know me." JJ was floored. _'He thinks he's going to die'_ she thought, the idea shaking her to her very core. JJ couldn't help the tears that gathered in her eyes as the thought seeped into her consciousness. Opening her eyes and seeing him staring at the ceiling she was glad he couldn't see her tears. "Rossi, look at me please," she said, shaking his hand as it gripped her own. He didn't obey and simply continued his perusal of the stark white ceiling above them, so she said, "David, you will look at me right now you hideously frustrating Italian, or I shall tell the team that you are horribly ticklish and that you have a weakness for children's cartoons." Seeing him smile slightly, she watched as his head turned towards her on the starched white pillow, and their eyes met. "I promise, with every fibre of my being, I will not leave you again ok. I shall stay as long as you want me to, I just wanted to contact the rest of our collectively oddball family to let them know what happened. You are not going to die alone, now or ever, we will all make sure of that."

Dave nodded his head in understanding and was about to speak again when they heard a familiar voice behind the ER doors. Then 1 second later the other members of their team came in and quickly came to stand around Dave's bed, each in varying states of post sleep awareness. Hotch, who everyone was used to seeing in his traditional suit and tie, was in fact now wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a zip-up Adidas sweater and glasses was the first to speak. "It had to be you didn't it Dave, just had to be you. I told you that enjoyable life style of yours would bite you on the ass one day didn't I." Dave looked at him what seemed like confusion then pointed at his glasses and smirked. "Where did they come from Aaron? Your vision failing in your advancing age is it?" he said, unable to control his facial expression into one of indifference. Hotch rolled said faulty eyes and pulled the apparently humorous specks off his face and shrugged, "Always needed glasses, but they aren't very practical in the field if they get broken. Can't see jack shit without them so I've worn contact lenses for years. Jumped out of bed and the house too quick to put them in, I was more concerned about getting here. Nice to know that they and my eye sight amuse you though."

Morgan was dressed in a tracksuit and sneakers, Reid was in something similar to Hotch and it seemed that the three girls were still in their pyjamas or at least the bottom halves anyway. Garcia's white pants seemed to have mini pink poodles patterned across them and Prentiss seemed to be wearing sponge bob square pants PJ's. Dave couldn't help the snigger as he saw the mini Sponge Bobs, Squidwards, and Patricks dotted across the material. "Got a bit of a soft spot for Sponge Bob have you Prentiss? Never saw that revelation coming myself thought you'd be more of a CSI or NCIS kind of woman," said Dave, unable to control the small laugh beginning to break from his mouth. Emily arched an eyebrow and leaned forward towards Rossi's face, "You know, it's real easy to go off people Rossi. I wouldn't want you to go on one of my lists. We've come all the way here, breaking several speed limits I'm sure to see our friend in need by the way, do you see him anywhere?"

Rossi smiled despite his situation, as the machine next to him continued to beep along with his heart beat, the bright green heart tracing on the large screen monitor wiggling across the screen, the numbers flashing in green showing 110 next to the line. As the monitor began to make a loud beeping noise disturbing the moment a nurse in blue scrubs came through the group, bustled up to the monitor and pressed what appeared to be a silence button on the front of the machine. Turning to the man on the bed she said, "Agent Rossi I'm Janey, I need to attach this blood pressure cuff to you, could you hold out your arm for me please sir." As instructed, Rossi held out the arm with the hand still being held by JJ so that the nurse could get the cuff around his bicep. As the cuff inflated, pinching him tighter than he ever remembered it doing before, the nurse placed her fingers next to JJ's hand and on to Rossi's wrist to feel his pulse and once she'd found it she glanced at her small fob watch on her chest. After about 30 seconds, she released his wrist and the cuff deflated and the blood pressure numbers appeared on the monitor and immediately flashed red, again causing an alarm to sound which was immediately silenced by Janey the nurse.

Dave suddenly tensed when the alarm went off and looked towards JJ, again showing her the fear in his eyes which he didn't want the rest of the team to see. Seeing this, JJ looked towards the nurse and said, "Is there something wrong, the machine was alarming for a reason wasn't it. Please give us some information; we've not heard anything since the paramedics left him here." Janey turned back round to the assembled group and said, "Are you all family? I can't give any information to anyone who is not direct family." Before anyone could say anything, Dave jumped in and said, "Yes, they are family, the only family I have and the only family you're going to see here for me. Give them any information they ask for, including now." Nodding, the nurse approached the group as an ensemble, "To answer you're initial enquiry, there is nothing imminently wrong. Mr Rossi, as we thought before is having a heart attack. The medication in the IV should control the chest and arm pain he is experiencing until the medics decide the treatment avenue that needs to be taken. The machine recognised that Mr Rossi's heart rate is too high, as is his blood pressure, and alarmed to inform us of the problem. We will keep you all informed of any developments in Mr Rossi's care as it progresses. In a couple of minutes I will need to come back and help Mr Rossi change into a hospital gown and out of his clothes and we will need to take some blood for tests so I'll give you a few minutes then I must ask you all to leave for a couple of minutes whilst we do that. Then he will be moved into our Coronary Care Unit on ward 76 for further specialised treatment."

JJ looked back to Dave as the nurse walked away and met his gaze, knowing what was going round his head at that point. "Looking into his eyes she whispered carefully, "See, you're fine. I can see you mind working a mile a minute and I know what is rolling around in there. You will be fine I promise. For starters we're all here so you are not alone, and for second no one is going to leave you alone." JJ looked up to the rest of the team, but only Hotch seemed to be paying any attention and was looking at their joined hands with a raised eye brow. Before he could say anything however, the nurse came back again with a gown and a white plastic bag and requested they all go into the reception area for a couple of minutes so that they could get Dave changed. JJ squeezed his hand quickly and whispered that she'd be just through the doors with everyone else waiting. He let go of her hand reluctantly as the nurses closed the curtains around his bed and the team went through the doors into the emptier reception area. As if they were all channelling each other, the group turned towards JJ as soon as the doors were shut, all with an expectant look on their faces awaiting information about what on earth had happened between getting back from their previous case and now.


End file.
